Monster mash, p.56
Monster Mash, page 56
He grabbed my hips and tried to maneuver me to straddle him.
I wriggled away with a laugh, tapping him gently on the nose with the spoon. “Ah-ah! Dessert after dinner, naughty boy. I just wanted to get your attention. How is the sauce?”
“If I recall, you were in a bit of a hurry to try the stuffing last night. I didn’t get to sample your special sauce.”
“Oh, now who’s being the flirt?” I gave his shoulder a shove. “Seriously. Is it too sweet? It’s too sweet, isn’t it? I don’t think I measured the lemon zest right. Inzo’s recipes are so exact.”
“Inzo?” That fierce look crossed his face again, the same one he’d had when he was asking who else I was sleeping with. Even I was a little surprised I liked to see him jealous.
I chuckled and sank back onto his lap, throwing my tentacles around his neck. “Inzo Amoretti,” I said, planting a kiss on his cheek. “He gave me the recipe last year at a party.”
“The Inzo Amoretti? The famous chef from TV?” His eyebrows shot up. “You know him?”
“Sort of. An old friend of mine from college hockey married Inzo’s former agent. It’s more of a friend of a friend sort of thing but….”
He frowned. “But what?”
I smirked. “But Chef Inzo is totally my backup celebrity freebie.”
Rebel gave me a strange look as I stood back up. “Who has a backup celebrity freebie?”
“Apparently, I do,” I called from the kitchen. “As of last night, anyway, since I somehow had the good fortune of falling into bed with my first choice.”
He snorted and finally got up from the sofa. “I’m the one who fell, remember? More like you dragged me into bed.”
“Kicking and screaming and full of protest, I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes and started plating the food. “I don’t remember hearing any protests once we got going.”
Rebel came up behind me. My face and heart warmed as muscular arms slid around my waist and squeezed. He pressed a kiss to my cheek that I would’ve been tempted to call uncharacteristically tender, given my interactions with him so far, but I had a feeling the real Rebel Rhail was a lot sweeter than he let on. Once he let his guard down, that was. It was getting inside that guard that was the challenge.
“I hated every second of it,” he lied with a smile. “And I definitely don’t want to do it again.” He pressed his hard cock against my back.
I flushed and cleared my throat. “Is it getting hot in here or what?”
“I could stand for it to get a little hotter, actually.” He squeezed my ass.
I swatted at him playfully. “Go sit down, you fiend.”
Rebel sat down at the table, and I brought our plates over along with some glasses and the bottle of prosecco I’d bought. I poured the drinks and sat down.
With the lights turned down and only the glow of the fireplace, our Krakenmas dinner took on a warmer, more intimate feel. It was a far cry from the raucous celebrations that normally made up my family’s holiday table. Part of me missed my cousins tossing rolls at each other across the table, and the way Auntie Helen could glare at them hard enough to make them stop. I even missed my Uncle Torvald’s obnoxious belly laugh.
“What’s wrong, Vic?”
I looked up from my barely touched plate and found Rebel staring at me. “Nothing,” I said with a sigh. “It’s just that…I miss my family a little. That’s all.”
“You’ll get back to them soon,” he promised, though he sounded a little sad.
When I looked up again, he was shoveling food into his mouth like he’d never said anything at all.
I pushed herb roasted fingerling potatoes around my plate. “My family usually goes out caroling after Krakenmas dinner.” A long beat of awkward silence. “Does your family do anything special for the holiday, Rebel?”
He chewed in silent thought before briefly putting his fork down with a shrug. “It’s just me and my gran these days. I guess we just do the usual.”
“Like what?”
Rebel shrugged again. “Presents. Watch the parade. She usually makes chicken and dumplings. That’s not exactly traditional Christmas food but…It’s my favorite. Then we put on a movie and she falls asleep in her chair. It’s pretty low key.”
“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know why I was disappointed.
I suppose I’d been expecting something more lavish, something more like my own experience with the holiday. Presents, dumplings, and TV were very Rebel though. I couldn’t imagine his family having ugly sweater contests or posing for photos, or a fiercely competitive annual snowball fight.
“What does your family do?” Rebel asked. “Besides the caroling.”
It was my turn to shrug. “Nothing too exciting. Nothing you’d be interested in.”
He frowned and tipped his head to one side. “C’mon, man. Try me. You might be surprised.”
I sighed and put my fork down. “My sisters and I used to build these giant snow forts and have a snowball fight. It’s always a huge competition. I miss it. There’s no way to do it here, though, especially given the weather. It’s like everything else. Not going to happen this year.”
To my surprise, Rebel reached across the table and put his hand over my tentacle, patting gently. He didn’t say anything, but the room certainly felt warmer afterwards.
After dinner, I collected all the plates and started cleaning up the kitchen. I expected Rebel to return to the sofa, but frowned when I saw him shrugging on his freshly dried clothes and coat.
“I’m just going to go out front. I won’t even leave the yard,” he promised.
“No improvised snowboarding.” I wiggled a tentacle at him. “I’m not patching you up a second time.”
I flushed when he caught my tentacle and kissed it, then winked. “We both know you would.”
“Oh, all right. I would. But don’t test me, Rebel. Why are you going out, anyway? Isn’t it still snowing?”
He buttoned up his coat. “It’s slowed down a bit. I just want to salt the walk so it doesn’t get so bad we can’t get out when we need to. I won’t be long.”
I turned back to the dishes. The front door opened and closed. A smile crossed my face. I’d never been the most domestic person, but this was kind of nice. While I washed the dishes and wiped down the kitchen, I let myself imagine a world where things were always this way between me and Rebel. When we weren’t out at events, we could live somewhere cozy. Warmer than the cabin, though. A little house on the beach, maybe.
It was easier than I expected to imagine a future for the two of us as long as I didn’t think about competitions. Rebel didn’t know how to lose, and I wasn’t willing to. As long as that was true, we’d never work out as a couple, no matter how badly I wished otherwise.
The kitchen was finished, but Rebel was still outside. I frowned and marched over to grab my coat from the rack. I swear, if he’s wrecked in a ditch again, I’m going to leave him there this time.
I yanked open the front door and paused.
The snow had slowed, even if it was still coming down in a heavy curtain of white. At least the wind wasn’t too bad, making it possible to see as far as the road. The front yard had been transformed. Two big mounds of snow sat on either side of the yard, with a valley between them. Rebel was patting the snow on one pile down with the shovel.
“Rebel Maxwell Rhail,” I said. “What are you doing?”
Rebel whirled around, a sheepish grin on his face. “Um. Happy Krakenmas?” He gestured to the two giant piles of snow.
I stepped out onto the tiny porch, crossing my tentacles over my chest, and waiting for an explanation.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You just seemed kind of sad about missing everything so I thought… I mean, I know they’re not pretty, but they’re kind of like forts, right? Or is this not what you meant?”
Oh my goodness. This man. This infuriating, lovely, thoughtful man… I wanted to bundle him up, carry him inside and never let him go. I also really wanted to hurl a bunch of snowballs at him.
I tugged on my gloves, coming carefully down the stairs, and picked up a wad of snow, forming it into a tight ball. “May the best kraken win,” I said and flung it straight at his face.
Vic was vicious. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from him. He had the advantage, mostly because he had more limbs than me.
Snowballs smashed into my fort, landing all around me in a constant assault. I huddled behind the dwindling wall of snow, watching my breath cloud in the air. As soon as there was a break in the attack, I jumped up and flung a few snowballs of my own at him. The first one missed, but the second one hit his shoulder in a glancing blow. I whooped and did a little celebratory dance while his jaw fell open, an indignant look crossing his face. I was still dancing when his snowball smacked into the side of my face. I wiped it away and found him laughing hysterically.
“You little…” I jumped over the fort wall and scooped up a handful of snow.
Vic didn’t consider me a threat until I grabbed him and started trying to shovel snow down his pants. He squealed. Tentacles flailed everywhere as he tried to get free, smacking into my chest and shoulders without much force. I just grinned and shoved the snow down his pants.
“You monster!” Vic declared and pounced on me. He weighed a lot for a guy who was technically shorter than me. Must’ve been all the extra limbs.
We fell into the snow and rolled, laughing like a couple of idiots as we came to a stop with him on top of me. An extra pair of tentacles shot out and pinned me in place so I couldn’t flip him, even though I tried.
“How come,” Vic panted, his breath a white cloud in the dark, “I’ve never seen this side of you?”
“The competitive side?” I wrenched an arm free, grabbed another loose handful of snow, and smeared it on his face.
Vic snorted and let me go long enough to clear the snow from his eyes. “No, I know that side of you. I meant the fun side. I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh.”
I stared up at him, trying to catch my breath. Was that true? I knew how to have fun. The games were fun, right? They had been once. I used to wake up excited to practice, looking forward to meeting fans and getting in front of the cameras. Even when I lost, there were aspects of the sport I liked. It used to be so different.
Then Vic came along and everything changed. I started second guessing everything. Practice felt pointless if I knew I wasn’t going to win. Vic was just going to show up and distract me enough that it’d affect my performance. Somewhere along the way, I must’ve forgotten I was there because I loved snowboarding. I loved skiing. I loved skateboarding. It didn’t even matter once if there were crowds or cameras or other competitors. Once upon a time, I loved it for the thrill of it. When had it all become about winning?
One of Vic’s tentacles slid across my cheek. “I like your laugh, Rebel.”
I wanted to say something smart. Maybe quip about how he had a mean overhand throw. Maybe he should take up baseball. But the air had shifted between us, growing heavier. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was kissing him again.
It was a slow kiss, like we had all the time in the world. I wished we did. I wished the storm and the snow would never clear, and we could just stay in that cabin, tucked away from the rest of the world forever. We understood each other out there. Without cameras and medals and competitions, we made sense. It was all that other shit that complicated us, made us fight. I didn’t want us to go back to it.
But we’d have to. Eventually, the wind would stop. The snow would melt. The world would intrude on our perfection and demand we go back to being rivals.
Vic broke the kiss first, panting. “It’s cold out here,” he said. “Take me inside and warm me up.”
How was I supposed to say no to that?
We were already half out of our coats and gloves when we came through the door. I closed the front door with my hip while Vic was still frantically trying to kick off his shoes. I yanked his coat off and flung it aside. A tentacle tugged my zipper down while two more found their way under my clothes. I gave up fighting with his stupid sweater and reached down into his pants, closing my fist around his already hard and leaking cock.
“Now,” he panted against my lips. “Need you in me now.” Vic yanked me down.
We wound up tumbling onto the sofa, but he winced.
“Maybe not here,” I said and looked around. We almost certainly weren’t going to make it all the way into the bedroom. I didn’t want to. The bed didn’t feel right for this. Instead, I rolled onto the floor where there was a big, faux fur rug, pulling him down on top of me.
Vic let out a literal growl and shoved my sweatshirt up. My back bowed off the ground when he closed his lips around one of my nipples. “Damn, these things are great. I love how you do that. How pink they are.”
I was pretty sure my face had flushed pink, too. No one had ever complimented my nipples before, let alone ever seemed so damn fascinated by them. In fact, even on the rare occasions I had hooked up, I got very few compliments on my body. I wasn’t what anyone would call conventionally attractive. Not like Vic. He was attractive in any light. Me? I was the kind of guy people fucked with the lights off. Vic acted like that wasn’t the case, though. He looked at me like I was the only man in the world.
He's always looked at me like that, I realized. I used to think those lingering looks were him sizing me up, but he wasn’t, was he? He’d called me his hero, the reason he got into sports in the first place. To be with me.
Something in my chest pinched. I pushed the thought away, focusing on the glimmering sheen of Vic’s torso once he got his sweater stripped off. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Vic smirked. “I know, right?”
I snorted and grabbed two generous handfuls of kraken ass. “Egotistical jackass,” I snarled and pushed his pants and underwear out of the way.
His cock sprang up, hard and heavy, the tip glistening. In the firelight, it almost looked like his aquamarine skin was sparkling. With his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving, Vic really was the most beautiful person I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Rebel…” A tentacle brushed against my cheek. The touch felt like too much. I couldn’t take it.
I rolled us so that he was beneath me and closed my lips around the glistening head of his cock. Vic let out a low whine that had me groaning around him. His tentacles curled and his head thrashed from side to side as I went up and down his length. If we stayed like that for days, I’d never get tired of seeing that panicked, pleasured look on his face. He panted and lifted his hips, trying to push himself deeper into my mouth. I grabbed him and held him firm, drawing out another desperate whine.
“Rebel, please.”
There was nothing sweeter in the world than hearing him beg. I wanted more, so instead of giving him what I knew he desperately wanted, I pulled back, letting my lips linger lightly on the tip. Poor Vic let out such a forlorn whimper I would’ve taken pity on him if I didn’t think he loved the torture every bit as much as me. His body betrayed him as he pleaded for more though, heavy drops of salty precum coating my tongue. His cock twitched with the effort of holding himself back.
“You’re a monster,” he repeated the line from earlier, this time with a more desperate edge to it.
“You love it.” I pulled him free of my lips and smacked his cock repeatedly against my tongue.
“Fuck,” he ground out through clenched teeth, squirming. “Don’t…you…I want…”
“What’s that?” I smirked and did it again.
A defeated whimper. Tentacles curled in the rug. “Oh, what do you want, you animal? Stop torturing me and tell me what you want!”
“I just like hearing the great Vic Amares reduced to whimpering and begging for me to suck his dick.” I licked up one side and then the other, watching him shudder. “What would your fans say?”
“Please, Rebel. Please, please, please…”
“Finally found a competition you couldn’t win,” I teased.
He moaned loudly as I put him back in my mouth and gave him just enough suction to remind him of what he was missing.
“I control when you get to come,” I said.
He whined, so I gave his thigh a smack. Rather than scowl about it like I expected, Vic groaned and his cock swelled a little more in my grip.
“Say it,” I demanded. “Tell me I win.”
“You’re such a dick!”
“Only dick that matters right now is the one I’ve got a hold of. You want to come? Fucking say it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. You win. Are you happy now, you—”
I didn’t let him finish the thought before I had my lips back around him. He cried out, tentacles wrapping around the back of my head as it rose and fell quickly. I threw everything I had into finishing him. See, Vic? You’re not the only champion cocksucker. Gold medalist, right here. Or I would be if they ever made sucking kraken dick into a sport.
His back arched and, with a shout, Vic flooded my mouth with his release. I drank him down and licked him clean until he was squirming and sobbing from overstimulation and shoved me away.
“You were saying?” I grinned down at him.
Eyes half open, he glared at me and panted, “I hate you,” without an ounce of heat.
“Gonna hate me even more in a few minutes. I’m not done with you yet. Get on your hands and…knees? Wait, do krakens have knees?”
He smirked in challenge. “Make me.”
“Fucking brat.”
He didn’t fight me as I turned him over. In fact, as soon as I had him on his belly, he pulled his tentacles up and balanced on them, presenting his ass for me and wiggling it.
“A brat and a tease,” I said and slapped his ass.
There was a sharp intake of breath before he glanced back at me, chewing on his bottom lip.
I grabbed his hips and jerked him back. He gasped as my hand closed lightly around his throat. “I’m going to fuck you so hard, you won’t be able to sit down tomorrow, you fucking brat.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” was his reply. “Give it to me.”
